Great Malvern Priory

 Just a quick one as I need to get organized for my little city break.  Pam is coming to feed round etc and Tam will be here Weds/Thurs.  Alfie is still very needy and gets lonely if I am not here 24/7.  This will be my last break for the year - after this, just local days out.  

I had a surprise invitation yesterday for a belated birthday meal with my neighbours two doors away.  We had a lovely time, and no washing up for me afterwards!  Nice to think that two young men can put up with an Old Crone who natters on about history and archaeology :)

Anyway, Great Malvern Priory - it took me several times to find it - even my phone Sat Nav sent me round in circles.  Having driven in from the far side of Malvern, due to the main road in STILL being closed due to land slips - and a fresh one just happened - I literally drove right by it, so was able to navigate back after the Fair.

The Priory font is a simple Norman bowl on a Victorian pedestal.  Like many others, it suffered the fate of being a garden ornament until rediscovered and returned to the Priory in 1838.

The print in the photo is small but I needed to get the whole memorial in.  Click on it to enlarge and read their names.

There was a lot of beautiful stained glass, as the following photos illustrate.

This is the West window, the glass of which was donated by Richard of Gloucester  (Later Richard III) and his wife Anne Neville in 1483. Through his marriage to her, he was Lord of Malvern Forest. Unfortunately much damage was done due to the strong Westerly winds affecting this side of the church and so the Day of Judgement depictions have been blown in (bits at the bottom by the look of it).

The Magnificat window.  This was created by local craftsmen in 1501 or 1502.  A great storm blew some of the window in during the 1700s so some of the original glass ended up as a jumble at the bottom.

Above and below, fragments of Medieval glass.

Wonderful modern Tom Denny windows dating from the Milennium.

I took photos of pretty well all the carvings on the monks stalls - and completely forgot about the wonderful Misericords beneath, so I will have to go back won't I?!  The carings varied in skill.

This looks like the Apprentice was still very much in the early stages of his training!!  I think it was probably a much later replacement.

This face had a real look of the Tollund Man bog body I am going to see next week . . .

If you visit, it is worth buying the guide book (£5) as it tells you so much about the history, and about the stained glass.

Off out to top up on cat biccies as the kitten ones are a Hit here . . .

Crafting Open Day

 I had noted that Brecknock Spinners, Weavers and Dyers were having an Open Day at Llangorse Community Centre today.  I debated whether to go, because of the price of fuel, but decided it was only held once a year, and I wanted to do a recce as I was thinking of joining them.

There was what looked like a hail storm by the Brecon Beacons.

I was glad I was not out walking the footpaths that way . . .

The group covers spinning, and weaving and dyeing, and knitting, crochet etc.  Quite a wide range of crafting interests.  I want to get back to spinning again but need someone to set my wheel up as it needs oiling and tensioning.  I also want to have lessons in drop spindle spinning as I have gotten cack-handed at that.  

This beautiful piece is all crochet, and was fabulous.  Apparently straightforward to work as well as just a couple of the basic stitches used.

Isn't this lovely?  It normally hangs in the church.

Apparently you don't need to rett the nettles to get the fibre from them - you can just dry the stems and the fine fibres are inside.

The needle felting was well done too - I especially liked the Fungi.  Did I feel tempted to join them?  Yes I did.  First meeting will be 24th April and I am looking forward to it.

Here is Rosie, taken on Thursday.  "It's MY house"!!!  She looks like a disgruntled barmaid :)

Finally, just before a heavy shower, my Variegated Pieris - SO pretty at the moment.

I have got all my clothes and things organized to go to Denmark.  Gabby will come here after work tomorrow. 

L. Whale had one lot of antibiotics (in butter) but has refused any more and isn't keen on eating anything I put down for him.  Pam, who is feeding them for me whilst I'm away, is not going to be able to tempt him either.  Yeesh. I will be fretting all the time I am away.

I don't have to cook tonight as Ed and Sam have invited me down for a belated birthday meal.  They are such good neighbours.  Sam isn't always there but when he is he has been helping Ed do the improvements to the house.  So, I had best put my bra back on and get into jeans instead of sloppy joe pajama bottoms!

Another vet's bill . . .

 

This time, L. Whale again.  A sliver of his stripped claw has regrown and is piercing the pad again.  The vet tried to get to it to see if it would slide out, but no.  I have two weeks of antibiotics for L. Whale.  Whilst I am away, friend Pam will have to be trying to get them down him. Since he is being SO picky about food, I have bought a small pack of Whiskas poultry in jelly for them all and see if they are back on THAT again, at least he would be eating then as he is going round the other cat's bowls at the moment.  

However, it looks like he may have to have that toe amputated - which will be another £420.  Do they think I am made of money?  I don't want to have the old boys put down when it is relatively minor problems, but I can't go on much longer with forking out my month's pension in short order for these treatments.  They know people love their animals so much and have you over a barrel.

She has cleaned the pad up and he hasn't got a dressing on it (this is a photo from February, when he had his last op).  If I had known that all these expenses were going to kick off, I wouldn't have booked Copenhagen, which is my holiday for this year.  Too late to back out now.

So, heaving big sighs here . . .  

A lovely birthday

 My birthday started with a lovely long across-the-world video call from Rosie in NZ.  It was so good to see her and speak to her again and we are so fortunate to have this lovely way of communicating now.

The girls and I didn't have to go too far to celebrate my birthday today.  We booked a meal at Tomatitos in Hay-on-Wye.  I had never had Tapas before, and we chose a lovely selection of plates including Potatos Bravas, Gambas Pil Pil (prawns in garlic sauce), Fresh anchovies (totally different to tinned!!), meatballs, Crackers with Membrillo and a lovely goats' cheese, chicken wings, and a couple of others I can't recall.  Scrummy.  Mind you, two glasses of Rioja at lunchtime = very tired birthday girl by the time we got home!!  We chatted with some lovely people on a nearby table, and when she heard I'd been to Petra, she recommended a book which she knew I would love, The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman.  Well, I had a rash moment when I got home and Mr Amazon is sending me a paperback copy tomorrow.  I will need to "work nights" to catch up on all the books I have to read :)

I was looking in the window at Addyman's and they had the classics beautifully bound and with painted edgings.  Gabby treated me to my favourite Bronte novel . . .

Then in the other Addyman shop, more . . .  I treated myself to Tess, my favourite Hardy novel.

The wool was from Booth's and is for the brim of my work-in-progress bobble hat.  Now I can back to the inner brim, which apparently I should have started with!

Too nice not to take a photo of.  Made from old sari fabric.

I took a photo of titles so I could check them out back at home.

Temptation.  Fortunately I have LOTS of embroidery skeins.

The bar had a lovely atmosphere.  Would love to go there again.

It was market day and Tam bought herself a couple of plants and treated me to a White Foxglove.  She also brought me a bottle of my favourite cider from her local Deli, along with Crab Pate, which will be my special treat for tomorrow's lunch (and until it runs out).  I will buy a good loaf of crusty bread from the Baker's in the morning.

Of course, a lunchtime drink is fatal and I had to have a Time Team nap when I got back and the girls had gone home.  I have had such a lovely day and chatted to friends in Hay.  It has always felt like a second home to me!

Tomorrow is going to feel very flat!  I've just subscribed to History Hits though, which was my joint present from my kids.  That will give me something to look forward to every day and it doesn't take up any room!!!